Ben Pawlowski
CARLOS Sainz has announced he will sign for Williams at the end of the 2024 F1 season, ending a four-year association with Scuderia Ferrari.
In February, the Italian-based outfit confirmed they were signing the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton when his Mercedes contract expires at the end of the year, igniting a domino effect throughout the driver line-up which Sainz has labelled as ‘exceptionally complex’.
Having lost his seat, Sainz, 29, received offers from Alpine and Sauber but has signed a two-year deal with Williams, nine times winners of the Constructors’ Championship.
Williams have struggled in recent years, with their last Grand Prix win coming with Pastor Maldonado in 2012, but Sainz believes the team are on an upward curve.
Announcing the move, Sainz said: “I am very happy to announce that I will be joining Williams Racing from 2025 onwards. It is no secret that this year’s driver market has been exceptionally complex for various reasons and that it has taken me some time to announce my decision”.
He added: “However, I am fully confident that Williams is the right place for me to continue my F1 journey and I am extremely proud of joining such a historic and successful team, where many of my childhood heroes drove in the past and made their mark on our sport”.
“The ultimate goal of bringing Williams back to where it belongs, at the front of the grid, is a challenge that I embrace with excitement and positivity. I am convinced that this team has all the right ingredients to make history again and starting on January 1 I will give my absolute best to drive Williams forward alongside every single member of the team”.
Williams principal, James Vowles, was brought in from Mercedes in an attempt to revive the team’s struggling fortunes and has long courted Sainz – he described the signing as a ‘strong statement of intent from both parties’
He said: “Carlos has demonstrated time and again that he is one of the most talented drivers on the grid, with a race-winning pedigree, and this underlines the upwards trajectory we are on”.
“Carlos brings not just experience and performance, but also a fierce drive to extract every millisecond out of the team and car; the fit is perfect. In Alex and Carlos we will have one of the most formidable driver lineups on the grid and with huge experience to guide us into new regulations in 2026”.
Sainz will replace American driver Logan Sargeant, partnering with Alex Albon, the British-Thai racer who has previously driven for Red Bull.
Sainz started his career at Toro Rosso, the sister team of Red Bull, but his progress was stifled by the rapid ascension of current three-time world champion Max Verstappen.
He joined Ferrari in 2021 after stints with Renault and McLaren.
Sainz, whose father is the legendary Spanish rally driver Carlos Sainz Sr, will hope to add to the three F1 victories he has to his name, the latest of which came at the Australian Grand Prix in March.
